Selkirk completed a third consecutive Division 2 victory over Carlton 3rds on Saturday with the home bowlers on top from the start. The hosts won the toss and elected to bowl first and opener Michael Fenton took a wicket with his third ball. The second wicket fell when David Simpson was adjudged to have hit the ball twice but, appearing to have done this to prevent the ball hitting the wicket, he may well feel aggrieved that he had acted within the laws of the game. Selkirk were no way near as profligate in their fielding this week but Michael Fenton (2-15) was left head in hands as John Henderson made a looping ball to gulley look difficult.
Returning to the side following a forced week off, Kenny Paterson was deployed to good effect at short cover and was to take two neat catches there to remove first Samantha Haggo for no runs and then Andrew Lang for 10. The home captain, Greg Fenton, brought himself on to bowl the last over before drinks and looking somewhat surprised by the pace, Chris Sale missed a ball on the stumps and was dismissed LBW for 17 runs.
For the visitors Dan Potter (15) was hitting the ball sweetly and when he hooked Greg Fenton down to the mid wicket boundary for 4 it gave the visitors some hope of having a decent target to bowl at. Potter was however clean bowled two balls later and Greg Fenton (4-8) combined with Kenny Paterson (2-18) to take the final 4 wickets for 14 runs.
There was going to be an early finish regardless of the result and when Greg Fenton edged the 4th ball to gulley, only to be dropped, there was a sense that there was an opportunity here for both sides.
The Selkirk openers took a grip of the game with some lusty shots from both, Greg Fenton smashing a six down to cow corner and Muhammed Bilal driving to the long off boundary for two fours. With the total already at 46, Bilal (16) was dismissed by an excellent piece of fielding by Andrew Lang at short mid wicket, taking a sharp catch at ankle height.
Any hope the visitors had of getting back in to the game was promptly dismissed as Michael Fenton clattered 14 quick runs, including a six over the deep mid wicket boundary. This was however his last shot as Tom Ritchie took immediate revenge by clean bowling the Selkirk batsman.
At this point the hosts were only 3 runs short of their target and the new batsman Keiran Toor was ultimately sent on to watch his captain finish the game with a single blow, clipping the ball past the leg side fielders for his sixth boundary of the day, finishing unbeaten on 35 and sealing an 8 wicket victory.
Selkirk host Hawick at Philiphaugh on Thursday evening for the Ronnie Simpson memorial trophy before travelling to Edinburgh on Saturday for round 4 of their Division 2 campaign with a visit to Royal High Corstorphine CC, who will be buoyed themselves by a resilient run chase to defeat Kelso on Saturday.